Eight core sector growth rises to 3.6% in May

A sharp rise in output of natural gas, electricity and refinery production aided the eight core sectors to grow 3.6% in May compared with 2.8% in April. The core sector had expanded 5.2% in May last year.

The base year of the Index of Eight Core Industries has been revised from the year 2004-05 to 2011-12 from April, 2017 in line with the new base year of Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
As per the data released by commerce and industry ministry on Friday, electricity production and refinery output both rose to a five month high to grow 6.4% and 5.4%, respectively. Refinery output had grown 0.2% last April.

Crude oil output rose a meagre 0.7% in May compared with a 0.6% decline in the trailing month.

Steel output rose 3.7% but the growth was slower than previous month’s rise of 9.3%. Cement output was up 1.8% compared with a 2.4% decline registered in April.

Only two infrastructure sectors showed a decline in output. Coal production fell 3.3% and fertiliser production declined 6.5% in April.